LESAGE. 152 LESDIGUIERES. literature seems more assured to-day than at any time since his death, which occurred in Paris, November 17, 1747. Lesage's works are best edited by Renouard in 12 volumes (1821), to be supplementeil by Ac Theatre de la l-'oire (10 vols.. 1737) and unpub- lished manuscripts in the French National Li- brarj'. Consult: the Life by Lintilhac (Paris, 1893) ; the Introduction by Anatole France to Lemerre's ed. of l.e (liable hoileux; DrunetiOre, Critiques, vol. iii. (Paris, 1880) ; Fajn"'t, XVIlIeme siicle (ib., 1885); Sainte-Ueuve, Causeries, vol. ii. (ib., 1881) ; L. Claretie, Lesage romancier (ib., 1800) ; Barberet, Lesage et le TiK'Urc de la Foirc (Dijon, 1887). LES'BIA. The name under which Catullus in his love poems celebrates the beautiful and shameless Clodia. LESBIAN POETS, The. A term used to designate the four poets of Lesbos, Terpander, Alca'us. Arion. and Sappho. LESBOS, lez'bos. An island in the .Kgean Sea, belonging to Turkey since the Middle Ages, and frequently called Jlytilene from the name of its chief city in ancient and modem times (now also called Kastro) (Map: Turkey in Europe. E 5). Area C75 square miles. It is mountainous and de^isely forested and is nearly cut in two by the Bay of Kaloni. that indents from the southwest: the highest jicak reaches an altitu<le of 3077 feet. The ]n-incipal products are olive-oil (about 1.5.000 metric tons a year), tigs, and almonds, and there are tanneries, silk and soap factories. The imports are grain, flour, sugar, tobacco, alcohol, sulphur, and petroleum; they amounted in value in 1800 to about $2,.500,- 000. The exports for the same vear were about .'i;2.">0.000 more. Population, in I'SOG, 125,000, of whom less than 10 per cent, are Mohammedans. Lesbos is famous as the birthplace of the poets Sappho. Alcit'us, Terpander, and Arion, of the statesman Pittacus. of the historian Hellenicus, and of the philosophers Theophrastus and Pha- mas. For the ancient history of the island see the article on the city of Mytilene, the capital. In the fourteenth centuiy Lesbos was conveyed by the Byzantine Emperor to a Genoese f:imily whose last duke, in 1462, lost it to Mohammed II. In 1G0O0.S the Venetians, and in 1821 the CJrocks. defeated the Turks in naval battles hero. Consult Tozer. L'ilaiids of the JJgean (London, 1800 1. LESCABBOT. lo'skar'btV, Marc (c.l570- 1630). A French traveler and writer, born at Vervins. He studied law and became an advo- cate before the Parliament of Paris. With his friend Pontrineourt he went to Canada in lfi05 to relieve the settlement at Port Royal. After the monopoly of the fur trade was broken, the settlement was abandoned, and in 1007 he re- turned to France, where he piddished IJistoirc de la youvelle France (Paris. 1000; 2d ed. 1G12). The edition of 1018 contains in addition Muses de la youvelle France. The history de- scribes the voyages of Verazzani. the settlement in Florida, the expedition to Brazil, and De Monts's colony in Acadia, the last being the first attempt to found an agricultural colony in America. Later he was secretary of the French Embassy in Switzerland, and wrote some books of travel. Consult an article I)y Biggar, "Marc Lesearbot of Vervins, the French Hakluyt," in the American Uinlurieal Itcvictc, vol. vi. (New York, I'JOl). LESCHES, les'kez (Lat., from Gk. Mcxn^)- Gne of the so-called cyclic ])oets, who flourished in the lirst half of the seventli century B.C. lie was born at Pyrrha, near Mj'tilcne, and is usually regarded as the author of the epic en- titled The Little Iliad ('IX(ds ^ iXiaauiv, or 'IXtds- liiKpd), in four books. This poem, which was in- tended as a supi)lement to the Iliad of Homer, narrated the events after the death of Hector, the fate of Ajax, the exploits of Philoetetes, Xeoptolemus, and Odysseus, and the final de- struction of Trov. From the last part of the work, which, like the first part of the poem of Arctinus, was called The Destruction of Troy ('IMou T^p<ns), Pausanias makes several quota- tions describing the sacking of Troy and the taking away of the prisoners. Consult: Aris- totle, Poetica 23 ; and Miiller, Fragmenta His- torieorum GrcFcorum (Paris, 18G8-83). LESCHETIZKY, lesh'e-tits'ki, Theodoe ( 1831 — ) . An Austrian pianist, born in Lemberg. As a piano virtuoso he was very favorably re- ceived in London, Holland. Berlin, and Vienna ; and in a lesser degree for his compositions, which include Houvenirs d'llalie, l^uite a la campagne, and many other similar pieces, as well as an opera, Die erste Fulte, first given in Prague in 1867, and afterwards at Wiesbaden in 1881. He is, however, principally famous as a teacher; he was one of the principal instructors of Paderew- ski, and has been very popular with American students studying abroad. His own teachers were liis father, Czerny, and Sechter. In 1852 he joined the Faculty of the Saint Peter.sburg Conservatory, and acted as conductor of the orchestra of the Grand Duchess Helen during the absence of its regular conductor, Rubinstein. Ill health compelled him (in 1878) to leave the country. In 1880 he married a former pupil, Annette Essipoff, and took up his residence in Vienna as a teacher. He subsequently moved to A^'iesbaden. LESCOT, Ic-skS'. Pierre (c.1510-78). One of the greatest French architects of the Renais- sance. Little is known of his life. He was born between 1510 and 1515. and is called a Parisian by .Jean Goujon in his introduction to Martin's translation of Vitruvius. His praises were sung by the poet Ronsard, who wrote him an epistle from wdiich we know that he was Seigneur de la Grange du Martroij, Seigneur de Clagny, Abbi! Commendatoire de Clermont (1554), and canon of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris. His first known work was the rood-screen of Saint- Germainl'Auxerrois, Paris (1541-44), and he designed the architectural part of Jean Goujon's (q.v. ) Fountain of the Nvmphs, in Paris. The plans for Hotel Carnavalct. Paris, are also at- tributed to him. His masterpiece was the west wing of the Louvre, begim in 1546. by which the renovation of the old Gothic palace was commenced. Lescot was the real founder of the purely classic school in France, previous work having been mainly the result of an amalgama- tion of Gothic and classic elements. Consult: Hcrty, Les grands arehifectes fran^ais (Paris, 1860) ; Palustre, La renaissance en France (Paris, 1880). LESDIGUIERES, la'de'gyar', Francois de Bonne, Due de (1543-1626). An able French
